Comcast Acquires Advanced Ad Company Visible World

Comcast has acquired Visible World, a tech company in the addressable and programmatic advertising business.

“For more than a decade, we have been focused on developing a portfolio of solutions that offer a wide variety of services to a wide range of customers,” Visible World CEO Seth Haberman said on the company’s web site. ”Comcast’s investment in our business will accelerate our ability to deliver on our vision and provide more open and efficient systems that will encourage more valuable and collaborative relationships across the TV ecosystem.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Comcast has been an early mover in dynamic ad insertion and addressable advertising. NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast, said it will be using Comcast set-top box data to better target advertising for its clients.

Earlier this year, Comcast acquired Freewheel, a tech startup that personalizes and inserts video ads for a number of media companies, for $360 million.

“Visible World is a dynamic company and a real complement to our existing advanced advertising initiatives. Visible World offers a diverse spectrum of services that serve a variety of needs across the television advertising landscape,” said John Schanz, executive VP and chief network officer for Comcast Cable. “This partnership reflects the business and technology trends we are seeing in the television industry today. We look forward to helping the talented Visible World team expand and accelerate their business and create more value for distributors, advertisers, agencies, programmers and affiliates.”

Comcast plans to operate Visible World as an independent company that will continue to develop new services for existing companies and to grow its customer base.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.